The Eternity Saga - Part 4
by Eternal
Summary: Journey to Greatness Begins - A new age of power begins to be created, long before any of them were ever born...


Gohan felt the power merge around him. He felt his life-force and his perception change.   
He felt the AI force transform into living nanites that consumed and transformed his  
mind and body. Altered on the molecular level his mind was no longer that of a simple  
saiyan, or even a saiyan god. He had become a machine of flesh, a cyborg to the infinite  
level. The ultimate mergence between organic and AI. His view of things instantly  
changed. Though he retained the irrationality of his organic self, it was no longer  
absolutely dominant. It was in check with his logical and calculating mind. But his  
cunning and deviousness that he had, had before remained. As he merged in the time  
stream, he finally drifted out when he was complete, and was nearly three thousand years  
in the past.  
  
Gohan was transformed, and he knew and understood many of the complexities of time.   
Should he change things openly and alter time before he returned to the present day he  
had left, he would simply shift his persona into an alternate path that he created, and the  
one he sought to destroy, the Trunks he wished to see lie dead at his feet would escape  
his grasp. He could not allow that. With his new mind he had infinite patience, and  
three thousand years would be strange and awkward to live through, but it was not  
something he couldn't persevere to complete the quest he sought. His quest had begun to  
change. He was no longer the simple, single-minded, short sighted person he had been  
before. Now his horizons had broadened. It was time that he explore the universe. With  
these two thousand years he could observe things, and learn of secrets that had been  
shadowed by the passage of time. So he left the simple and rather boring world of earth,  
which had little to offer in this time period, and set out on a journey through the stars.  
  
* * * * *  
  
In current day, Trunks stood there for a few moments contemplating what had just  
happened. It dawned on him if Gohan had traveled back in time, and had gained the  
knowledge of Cell's Time Machine, then he would know not to alter things. He would  
watch, wait, and grow in power until the moment had passed where he traveled back in  
time. So any moment, probably within the hour, Gohan would re-emerge as a god that  
could destroy him. He had no time to plan. His mind raced as he tried to think of  
something that he could do. Anything to counter Gohan, but the answers eluded him.  
  
Meanwhile back at the scorched earth of Goku's home, Chi-Chi sat there crying. Goku  
held her close to him. He had changed alot in the past few years. He had indeed been  
naive for a long time, but the torture he had endured at the hands of his psychotic son had  
changed him. He had learned the meaning of what power and lust after it could do to a  
person. Some might have believed he would have been changed and his eyes opened  
when he had encountered Vegeta, but the problem was no one fully understood Vegeta,  
but he believed he did. He saw it in his eyes, and he knew it in his heart when Vegeta  
had died that day on the planet of Namek so long ago against Frieza. Vegeta had never  
been evil. In fact his heart was good, and noble. An honorable man who sought to  
rebuild the name and former glory of his world, the saiyan homewold Vegeta. Sure  
Vegeta's pride and haughtiness, and zealousness to be the most powerful being in the  
universe got him into trouble at times, and placed him at odds against those that would  
otherwise be his friends, at the core, he was not a bad person.  
  
Goku contemplated the actions in the past few years that had changed his world. It all  
started that day nearly three years ago, when Gohan's power had been unlocked. He had  
never discovered how it happened. He didn't understand what could have changed in  
Gohan so much that he would have a power that corrupted him into the person he was.   
Gohan was an ambitious person, and he understood that power could corrupt, but where  
had he gone wrong? Was it simply his fault for not spending enough time with Gohan to  
teach him the dangers of power? Why hadn't his actions, purpose, and the example he  
had set been enough to divert his own son from becoming so selfish and self-centered.   
As Chi-Chi sat there crumpled in his arms, he didn't know how to tell her the reason her  
home had been lost, and the cause of all this destruction was her own son. It would break  
her heart, and he didn't know if he could live with that. Goku contemplated within  
himself if he should reveal the truth to her. He'd never been a person of deception until  
the day that Gohan had went off, and from that day forward, his life had become a lie,  
more of a lifestyle that he could not escape from...  
  
As he sat there with these thoughts spiraling through his head, Dente the Guardian of the  
Earth appeared and stood before him. "Goku, you cannot just sit here. I sense the  
presence of dark powers in the works. Ones beyond anything that this universe has ever  
been seen before. Powers so great, that they existed long before any of the ones we've  
face, and have simply hidden dormant until this time. They have awaited until the  
fulfillment of the time in which their origins began, so as not to alter that which created  
them. Now they have revealed their presence as they begin to unlock the darkest powers  
in the universe to crush and oppress all that would oppose their absolute rule. You must  
now gather together as many warriors as possible. All their powers will be required to  
stand even the most remote chance of survival." Goku looked at Dente with a forlorn  
look. "Gohan is a god, and if he has found a way to excel beyond that which he was, and  
crush the Trunks after his strange transformation, then none of us will even be able to lift  
a finger against him." Dente frowned and shook his head. "What happened to the  
optimistic Goku I used to know? Has your spirit been crushed that greatly?" Goku stood  
up with Chi-Chi still wrapped in his arms. She listened intently, not saying anything, or  
making any actions until the two were done conversing. Goku responded bitterly. "You  
don't understand the hell I've been through in the past few years. No one does."   
  
Dente looked at him with a quizzical look. "Yes, I know that something has been strange  
in the past few years, with the disruptive alterations in my vision when I attempted to spy  
out the world around you. I could tell deceptions were being inlaid in whatever I  
perceived, but I could never break through them, or slip past them to discover what it  
was. It was not until today that I realized it was not you creating this deception, but your  
son Gohan." Chi-Chi reacted to this instantly. "Gohan?! What about him. Are you  
saying he was hiding something from you?! My little boy wouldn't do anything like that."   
Dente looked at her with a surprised, but sorrowful look, then turned to Goku. "You  
mean she still doesn't know? She hasn't figured it out yet? I'll let you explain. And I  
know that you are not as hopeless as you'd have me presume you are. Gather the  
warriors, I know you'll do it, even if it is only out of duty. I believe in you Goku." Dente  
turned tapping his stick on the ground as he phased back to his perch above the world.   
Goku was left there to explain to Chi-Chi the words that Dente had spoken."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Gohan traveled through the wide ranges of space. He encountered many strange beings  
on many worlds that others never even expected existed. With his technological power  
and chronal energies he could transverse through space at incredible speeds without the  
use of a ship. One of the strangest worlds he encountered was covered with a strange  
exoskeleton. The entire world was alive. Each structure of exo-skeleton linked with a  
powerful ectoplasm to the next piece of exoskeleton. But under the surface lay the  
strange psionic creatures, millions of them like a hive swarm thinking and uniting under  
one mind. As he entered the world, he instantly felt his mind begin to be invaded. Had it  
not been for the AI nanites that now filled his entire being, and made him what he was,  
he would surely have become a mindless drone, or food for this strange consciousness.   
But even as millions of nanites were usurped by the psionic call, since his body was made  
up of billions of them, they overpowered and reprogrammed the hostile nanites until they  
made themselves immune to this siren like call from the millions of creatures that  
inhabited, or rather made up this world...  
  
The creatures sensed his power level and that they could not usurp him. Instantly the  
world sensed the strength that they would receive if they could consume him. They used  
their psionic powers to create a shell around the atmosphere to lock him inside. He saw  
what was happening and attempted to flee the world, but their psionic powers were as  
fast as their mind perceived it to be. So by the time he had thought to use his power to  
flee the world, they had already blocked off his route of escape. As he charged for an  
assault to blast his way through their strange barriers, he sensed them gather their power  
into a singularly collective consciousness, all compressed into a single entity. This kind  
of sacrifice would possibly kill nearly half of the beings on the planet once this embryo  
of the creature they were creating awakened, but none of them seemed to hold back.   
They had lost their individuality long ago, and wanted only one thing, power and strength  
for the all...  
  
Gohan once again attempted to stop the birth of such a being before they could create it,  
but as the power of thought itself is, the decision was nearly instant, and Gohan had no  
time to react. The being was born, and Gohan could sense nearly half of the planet die in  
the process. It shrunk as the creatures inside faded away to dust and the remaining  
creatures used the ectoplasm to relink themselves with the rest of the remaining living  
creatures. He could feel them merging with one another to solidify the barrier around the  
planet so that Gohan could not escape. He would have to face the challenge that they had  
put forth.  
  
The creatures formulated into a solid energy form. It was a basic humanoid form, in fact,  
it was by all looks, a duplicate of Gohan. That made sense Gohan realized. These beings  
had been linked by the mind for so long and absolute as a singular consciousness with no  
solidification, that it would not have had the time in an instantaneous moment to create a  
physical body of representation from creativity of it's own. It had to use something that  
was already around to simulate a physical form. But it had not taken any time to create  
specific details. Though the creature had the basic outlook of Gohan, it was little more  
then a glowing blue hued being that had the basic shape of Gohan. Only the eyes showed  
any type of originality. When the creature opened it's eyes, a reflection of himself could  
be seen. The eyes were entirely reflective and portrayed not only the look of the person,  
but Gohan could see his own confusion and wonder reflected from those eyes. Those  
eyes could even reflect emotion...  
  
But Gohan had only a moment to observe these things and take them in before the  
creature began to assault him. Gohan was on full alert but no matter what speed he  
observed the creature on, he could not anticipate their attacks. One moment they were  
away from him, the next they were striking him with a deadly blow that took enormous  
power. If not for his own saiyan healing factor merged with the nanite regeneration, he  
would have easily fallen to the creature. Their attacks singularly did not take that much  
power, but the deadly blow was a combination of nearly a thousand strikes from various  
points ripping at his body like acid being flooded upon him at every angle. How could he  
fend off such an attack, when he couldn't even sense it coming. Worse yet as the seconds  
ticked by and he was assaulted relentlessly, he didn't have enough time to think of a way  
to retaliate, or so his basic mind thought. He had still not fully mastered linking his  
nano-tech structure with the natural brain functioning processes. But on a sub-conscious  
level, the nanites had already begun to think of a way to retaliate. The question was,  
could they come up with something in time.  
  
Several gruesome moments passed as the creature came in at every angle. Much like the  
battle with Trunks, Gohan felt his entire body being broken and shattered. But even  
worse as he felt the assaults, he felt the psionic power try every time to leak into his very  
being, to invade what he was, and transform him into part of what it was. It ached at his  
mind, it tormented him, yet begged him to join them. It compelled him with great allure  
that he would be absolute, that he would be all powerful, that he would be complete. But  
Gohan would have none of it. He was still too selfish for that. He would never give up  
his individuality as a sacrifice to be stronger. If he were no longer himself, then he  
would have given away every reason for gaining the power. His eternal energies burst  
out in a fury of might that shattered and cracked the exoskeleton of the planet. The war  
between the two beings raged to an incredible climax that was reached in less then a  
minute from the time it began. Finally the psionic creature funneled all of it's power at  
the weakened Gohan. Once again moving as fast as thought, he could not retaliate in  
time. The blast struck right on target, and Gohan's body could handle the strain no more.   
The echo of the blast could be heard reverberating on all the nearby planets in that solar  
system, as that entire planet quaked at the explosion of power and Gohan's body  
shattered...  
  
  



End file.
